


C'mon and Dance (with me)

by midnighttypewriter



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Powers, First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Secret Admirer
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-22
Updated: 2014-09-19
Packaged: 2018-02-14 03:57:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2177076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/midnighttypewriter/pseuds/midnighttypewriter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Homecoming is approaching and all Steve's friends are much more interested in it than he is.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"Congrats!" Natasha says when she reaches their tables and throws her arm around Bucky's shoulders, somehow balancing her tray with one hand even as she leans forward.

"On my face?" Bucky asks and Steve thinks _yes, fair_ because Bucky is beautiful. With his dark hair and blue eyes and toned muscle, Bucky's a teenage dream. 

Bucky and Steve are sitting at their little group's usual table, one in the back of the cafeteria, eating their lunches while Bucky copies Steve's notes from Pre-Calc and Steve compares Bucky's highlights in the novel they are reading for Literature with his own. Bucky color-codes in a way that makes no sense to Steve but he always has interesting points written in the margins. 

Sharon appears on Natasha's side, carrying a stack of papers two of which she hands to Bucky and Steve. "You were nominated for the Homecoming Court." 

Where most people would be flattered, Bucky groans. He covers it up quickly with a blinding smile. "Can I keep this?" he asks, waving the paper. Steve studies the one in his own hand. There it is, among the list of nominees for the Homecoming Court, James Buchanan Barnes nominated for the Homecoming Prince. "I'll put it on the fridge. So Mum can stop pestering me about not getting involved enough."

"Sure," Sharon says but places about a quarter of the stack she's holding in front of him. "You can help me hand out these." She puts another pile on the side of Steve's tray.

"That seem self-indulgent," Bucky mutters but doesn't really protest. It's difficult to argue with either Natasha or Sharon and impossible to argue with both of them at once. They both put up a sweet front, a beautiful red-head with a soft Russian accent and a blonde with the shy smile mastered, but they never need to so much as raise their voices to get things done. 

The girls take seats at the table and Sharon grabs a sandwich from Natasha's tray. 

"Where are Clint and Sam?" Steve asks. He folds the paper in half and then again and shoves it in his pocket. Bucky's the only one from their little group who is nominated. He and his letterman jacket fit in oddly with the misfits, but somehow it works. 

"Clint's in detention," Natasha says.

"And Sam's here," says Sam, coming to the table. He punches Bucky's arm, mutters "congrats", and sits down between Steve and Sharon. "So, Homecoming."

"Yeah, Homecoming," Steve mutters. It's in three weeks, yet the school's been talking about it for weeks already. He'd like to think he's too cool with being uncool to care, but apparently it's not the case for his friends.

Beside him, Bucky moves the rest of his fries to Steve's tray and reaches out to attack Natasha's fruit salad with his fork. She lets him fish out a piece of apple but when he has it, Natasha grabs his wrist and pulls his arm forward so that the fruit ends up in her mouth. Bucky whines, Steve rolls his eyes, and Natasha grins. 

"So, who are you guys going with?" Sam asks.

Steve sighs. "I'll leave the mating games to people with better genes." He isn't _trying_ to be self-deprecating, but he knows all too well what he looks like. There's a lot of things he is, many of them good, but desirable isn't one of them. From a scrawny kid, he turned into a too short and too thin a teenager with a thick medical file. 

"Nothing wrong with your genes," Bucky says. He ruffles Steve's hair so roughly Steve almost ends up with his nose in the tray. Then Bucky runs his hand down Steve's neck and back and then wraps his arm around Steve's waist casually. Steve doesn't even think about protesting; he loves these little affectionate gestures he sometimes receives from his best friend.

"If Clint gets out of detention for long enough, I'm asking him to be my date," Natasha says.

Sharon turns to her. "Can I ask? Are you two dating or…?"

With a smirk, Natasha leans to her. "Why, which one of us do you want to go with?" There is a range of smiles and smirks Natasha uses and this one says: _I know things about you that even you aren't aware of._

Sharon blushes and laughs and shakes her head.

"Hey, Steve," Sam says. "If you don't have anyone else you'd like to go with, we could go together."

Steve snorts. "We tried that before, remember? You decided you were straight."

"What about you, Bucky? Anyone you're going to ask?"

Bucky shrugs with one shoulder, rubbing absent-minded circles into the small of Steve's back with his thumb. "I haven't really thought about it."

///*///*///*///

On Saturday mornings, Bucky goes running and Steve's house is his final destination so that Steve can roll his eyes at him and make him breakfast. Steve's eyerolling mostly stems from bitterness, because his various ailments make jogging pretty much an impossible activity for him. However, he can't complain about seeing Bucky in the doorway.

Bucky's wearing a black t-shirt with patches of sweat and his hair is messy. He makes his way past Steve into the bathroom and there he shoves his head under the tap in the bathtub; water is dripping off his bangs and the tip of his nose when he straightens up again. Steve wants to lick the droplets off his skin but he has some self-restraint. 

"Eggs and bacon?" he offers and Bucky nods eagerly. 

Steve's mother is working and so it's just the two of them, but that's nothing unusual. In fact, it's very much their Saturday routine until it's time to drive to a diner for a lunch and then for Bucky's football practice. They eat and then settle in Steve's bedroom, Steve curled on the bed with a sketchpad, Bucky on the floor, head rested against Steve's legs.

"So, about the Homecoming…" Bucky starts.

Steve sighs. "Et tu, Brutus?" He honestly doesn't want to think about the Homecoming Dance, because as all dances, it's simply a reminder of how impossible it is for him to find someone who'd like him enough to take him out for a date in front of all the school.

"C'mon, Stevie. You know it's going to be awesome. You know you wanna go." He leans back so that he can look at Steve easily. Steve continues to stubbornly shade the curve of Bucky's left cheek and doesn't look at him at all.

"I don't think I'll go."

"But Steve," Bucky whines, stretching the vowel in the name. "Hey, what if someone asked you to be their date? Someone who was proper interested, I mean."

"No one's gonna ask me."

"But-"

"Leave it. What about you? Whom are you going with?" It isn't exactly a change of topic, but at least it takes the attention off of him.

Bucky lets out a sigh and shuffles. "I don't know."

"One of the cheerleaders?" Steve suggests and ignores the pang of jealousy in his chest. "Darcy, perhaps? I saw her looking at you." When Bucky's answer is a non-committed shrug, he asks: "Isn't there anyone you'd like to take?"

"Someone, yeah. But I don't know if they'd go." Bucky sounds so shy and uncertain it's almost impossible to bear.

"Of course they would. No one's gonna say no to you, Buck." Bucky is handsome and charming, smart and athletic. A complete package. People love him.

"Yeah, well." Bucky reaches for Steve's sketchpad with a grabby fingers gesture. "Can I see?"

Steve shrugs and hands it to him and then delights at the way Bucky's face lights up. Bucky makes a content noise as he studies the sketch. It's of him, of course. 

"You make me feel beautiful, Rogers."

"That shouldn't be much of a problem," Steve says as he reaches out to take his sketchpad back.

Bucky smiles at him, happy and open. "Hey, Steve," he says, wrapping his fingers loosely around Steve's ankle. "Will you- You'll come to the game, though, right?"

///*///*///*///

The thing is, Steve isn't entirely sure why Bucky keeps him around. It made more sense when they were younger, both just boys on the playground. Back then, Bucky followed Steve everywhere on the expeditions and adventures Steve initiated. They were inseparable.

Then puberty hit and Bucky grew almost a foot in one summer. He was turning heads soon afterwards. He joined the football team and was the first one in their year to kiss a girl (Natasha; but it turned out they were better friends than sweethearts and Natasha joined their duo which afterwards grew into their little group). Meanwhile, Steve was still too short and with too many ailments to count.

It made no sense, for Bucky to keep Steve around. Yet the only time Steve had seen Bucky actually angry with him was when he once mentioned this mystery. Bucky didn't speak to him for five whole hours before calling. 

"Just… never put yourself down, Steve. You're great. The best. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise, not even yourself."

It was the sappiest Steve heard him get.


	2. Chapter 2

On most days, Steve drives to school with Bucky. First, Bucky's mother used to drive them both, then Bucky got his own license and a car to go with it and started picking Steve up on his own. Tuesdays, however, Steve begins with the second period while Bucky has school from the early morning. Steve drives with Sharon on those days.

When they get to school, the corridors are mostly quiet; it's still the first period for most students. Steve sighs when he sees the poster taped to the front of his locker. _Vote Brock Rumblow,_ it says just above a photo of the handsome lacrosse team captain. _HOMECOMING PRINCE_ , it states below in capital letters. The poster is in full color, the writing a glaring red with black outline. It's not professional by a long shot, but it's definitely noticeable.

"He takes it seriously, doesn't he?" Steve says to Sharon, who's removing the poster from her own locker. 

"Someone should start a campaign for Bucky," she answers and crumbles the paper. Brock and Sharon have never got along, not since she punched him in the gut in the second grade for stealing some poor kid's toy car. 

"Are you volunteering?" Steve asks and follows her suit. It's not that he has anything against Brock in particular, but the poster offends his sense of aesthetics. 

"It'd be a conflict of interests," she says. Sharon is on the committee throwing the Homecoming Dance and organizing the related activities. She's always on some sort of a committee.

"I'd do it but then I'd probably really have to start wearing the Barnes Fanclub President t-shirt Natasha got me for Christmas," Steve says with a snicker and only the faintest hint of a blush, which he is quite proud about. Besides, he has to admire Natasha's dedication to joke gifts. She had to order twenty t-shirts in order to pull that one off. And another twenty to get Bucky a Rogers Fanclub President one. Bucky slept in his.

He tosses the crumpled poster into the nearest paper bin and then opens his locker. And freezes. On top of his books there is an envelope. It's light blue with his name on it in the most beautiful calligraphy. Hesitantly, he reaches inside and takes the envelope out and opens it. A picture of a white flower slips into his hand. A rose? No, but something similar in shape. When he turns the photograph over in his hand, the other side turns out to be blank.

"Sharon?" 

"Steve?" She closes the door of her own locker enough to look at him past it. 

"Is there something- Did someone put something into your locker?" He doesn't know whether to be concerned or confused and his tone carries a little of both.

"No?" Sharon makes a step forward. "Why, is someone pranking you again?"

Steve isn't sure why, but he hides the picture and photograph from her view. "It's nothing."

///*///*///*///

"I hate the event committee," Natasha says, slinging her arms through Sam's and Steve's when they're leaving their last shared class before lunch.

"Sharon's on the event committee," Steve points out. He tries to stay focused on the conversation, but a part of him is still mentally examining the strange picture in his locker. He isn't used to obscure things finding their ways into his possession without him knowing immediately where they're from and who is responsible and what they're trying to say.

"I hate the event committee, except for Sharon. Her I only dislike a little," Natasha amends. 

"Why the hate?" Sam asks.

"So I'm DJing the Dance, right? And they keep giving me all these lists of songs I'm not allowed to play and it's like, all of them? What am I supposed to play, Gregorian Choral?" 

"I like Gregorian Choral."

"Not the point, Steve."

"Wait, how come you're DJing? I thought you said you were taking Clint as your date?" Sam points out as they split their linked arms so that they can pass through the cafeteria door.

"Well, there's the band first, right, and all that stuff. And then he just needs to look pretty and bring me drinks. It's not like either of us can dance."

"Nat, you did ballet for five years," Steve says.

Natasha glares at him. "Classified information." Sam takes trays for all of them and hands them out, and Natasha balances hers on one hand, side-eying the choices she has for lunch. They've been told that their cafeteria is better than most places high school students are punished with, but it still doesn't make the food good.

"You go to Zumba classes with Sharon every week." Steve grabs a sandwich before moving towards the beverages to grab a juice. They all usually avoid cooked food, because it hardly ever looks like what it's supposed to be.

"That's… Hey, Steve, are you alright?"

He looks at her, blinking. "Yeah, sure, why?" He is a little distracted, perhaps, but he didn't know it was that obvious.

Only, Sam is looking at him with the same concern he sees on Natasha's face. "You don't eat salami," he points out and takes the sandwich off Steve's tray, shoving it into Steve's face before putting it back into the display. 

Cheeks red, Steve grabs a chicken one and heads for their table. Bucky, Sharon, and even Clint are already sitting there, swapping stories and notes from the day. 

"What's up, punk?" Bucky asks the moment he sees Steve. "You look upset."

"I'm not." Steve sinks into the seat next to Bucky. "I'm just thinking." 

"You need to share your thoughts," Clint says. He's sitting between Bucky and Nat, his feet up on the edge of Nat's chair. Everyone's expectant eyes are on Steve.

Resigned, Steve grabs his bag from where he has dropped it by his seat and pulls it up into his lap to fish out the photograph. He drops it onto the table. "Any idea what this is?"

There's collective blinking and shrugging.

"Is that a rose?" Sharon suggests.

"Can't be a rose," Natasha says.

"I think it might be camellia?" Sam says and picks the picture up. "Yeah, I think it is. My grandma grows them."

"Why're we looking at a picture of a camellia?" Natasha asks.

"Hard-hitting question," Bucky says. He rests his arm on the backrest of Steve's chair as he leans forward to look at the photograph himself.

"It was in my locker this morning."

"Just like that?" Sam lifts his eyebrows in a way that suggests he thinks Steve's hiding something. This time around he is wrong.

"In an envelope addressed to me," Steve admits uncomfortably. "I thought maybe you guys got something like it, too."

"Nope."

"Here it says," Clint says, looking at them over his phone, "that in some cultures white camellias symbolize death."

Bucky frowns. "Gimme that," he says and grabs Clint's phone before Clint can says or do anything about it. He starts scrolling down the website Clint was looking at. Half a minute later his face brightens. "Someone thinks you're cute."

"What?" Steve leans closer to him so that he can see the screen of the phone. 

"Here." Bucky turned the phone to Steve but read aloud as well. Maybe for Steve's benefit, but likely for those around them. "White camellias symbolize an adorable quality. If you want to tell someone you find them adorable, gifting them white camellia is the way to go."

"So it's either a weird death threat or you've got a secret admirer," Natasha sums up. 

Steve finds the former to be more likely, but he doesn't say it out loud.

///*///*///*///

Steve can't bring himself to throw the picture out but he isn't entirely sure what to do with it. He ends up sliding it under his mattress. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A big part of this story is also about the language of flowers (and possibly the dangers of learning it from Google search).


	3. Chapter 3

Steve doesn't want to think about the strange envelope in his locker just as much as he doesn't want to think about the Homecoming. Yet he can't seem to avoid the thoughts just as much as he can't avoid the posters letting him know that the week before Homecoming will be a costume week. 

"Please tell me there won't be a pajama day," he whines at Sharon the moment he sees her. 

"Everyone loves pajama day," argues Natasha, leaned against the locker besides Sharon's.

"Well, I don't." Steve turns to his own locker and hesitates. He isn't sure he wants to find another note there, but he isn't sure he doesn't want to, either. When he opens the door and finds nothing but his books, his heart sinks a little and he hates it.

"That's just because Darcy Lewiss called you cute last year," Bucky says from behind Steve. His locker is on the opposite end of the corridor, despite Steve's neighbors complaining every year that Bucky keeps blocking theirs by hanging around Steve's for long minutes.

Steve grimaces. He hates being called cute. He's five foot four and skinny, and being called cute makes him feel like a kid.

He's saved from reacting by Bucky's further words: "You've done your math homework, right? I didn't… have time after the practice yesterday."

"Collecting dumb jock points, Buck?" Sharon teases him and Bucky sticks his tongue out at her. Steve hands him his Pre-Calc notebook without a word. He should have more morals, probably, but if he tried to resist, Bucky would only use his puppy dog gaze on him and Steve is unable to argue with that.

///*///*///*///

There's nothing in Steve's locker after the second or third period either. Not that he is looking for it. He isn't. It was a one time thing, a mystery to never be solved. He isn't expecting it to happen again. Doesn't want it to.

Yet when, hands covered in charcoal powder after a double period of Advanced Drawing, he opens the locker to see an envelope lying atop his books, his stomach flips. 

Steve shifts the books he is holding under his arm and takes the envelope. It's the same type as yesterday, complete with Steve's name written on top of it. However, there is something solid inside this time; Steve can feel it under his fingers. 

When he opens it and turns it over, a pendant falls into his palm. It's silver, but even with no colors to it, he recognizes a pansy. 

He takes a sharp breath, his eyebrows arched. Forbidding himself to jump to any conclusions, he takes his phone out of his pocket. His phone, which used to be Bucky's before Bucky got a new one and sold the one he had had to Steve. For a certain definition of "sold" which involved Steve forcing ten bucks down Bucky's jeans pocket after half an hour of arguing. 

He is glad he has a smart phone now, though. A quick search tells him that pansy stands for attraction and loving thoughts. 

The secret admirer idea is starting to look a lot more plausible. Steve allows himself to think that for about thirty seconds before it occurs to him that it could be a prank. The school is full of people mean enough for elaborate pranks.

///*///*///*///

"Any new surprises in the locker?" Natasha asks. Natasha, Steve, and Bucky are sitting on the floor at the end of one of the school corridors. Just between the classrooms they're headed to when the bell rings.

"Maybe," Steve answers with a shrug. The pendant is in the pocket of his jeans, pressing a flower patterns into the skin of his thigh. 

"Tell us," Bucky says. He has a map spread in his lap, marking something in it with little bird-shaped pins. He's taking Environmental Studies and apparently the math homework wasn't the only one he didn't do the night before.

"Don't wanna," Steve answers. He really doesn't want to talk about it, though he can't decide whether it's out of embarrassment or because he doesn't want to get too invested. If it's a prank, which it probably is, he doesn't want his feelings hurt. 

"But Steve." Natasha pokes him with her index finger. Her fingernails are painted vibrant blue. On the other side of Steve, Bucky has stopped decorating the map and is listening in curiously.

"No," Steve says sternly, using what his friends call his command voice. "Enough about me—"

"You didn't actually tell us anything," Bucky points out.

"Shush. Enough about me," Steve repeats, louder. "Did you ask Clint yet?"

"He said yes. It was undramatic and boring. Meanwhile—"

"No." Steve turns to Bucky. "What about you, Buck? You mentioned you had someone in mind?"

Bucky glares at him. He shoves the last stork-shaped pin into the map, before putting it all away. "Yeah."

"And?"

"Oh, do tell." Natasha leans forward and ends up resting her chin on Steve's shoulder. 

Bucky shrugs and shakes his head. "I don't want to discuss it. It's not like they're ever going to say yes."

Steve and Natasha exchange glances. 

"Who are they, an alien?" Natasha asks. "Because that's the only reason I can think of for anyone to turn you down."

"Yeah? What if I asked you?" Bucky asks. Steve shifts uncomfortably, because if there's one place he doesn't want to be in, it's between those two if they're going to discuss any residual feelings. From those maybe two weeks three years ago.

"I'm already going with Clint."

"See?"

"Are they going with someone else, then?" Steve asks.

"I don't know." Bucky shrugs. "It's just that I'm not sure I'm even good enough for them? They're so— So strong-willed and so smart, and I'm, well, me." He is smiling, but it's a little sad around the edges. 

"Aren't you in a whole lot of advanced classes? And somehow have high GPA despite leaving all your work until the last minute? Meanwhile I dropped out of Spanish so I could fit Advanced Studio Art into my timetable."

Bucky stares at Steve for a moment, his cheeks pink. Then he said in a strained voice: "Well, I'm not comparing myself to you, am I, punk?" 

The bell rings and they scramble to their feet and don't return to the topic.


	4. Chapter 4

The mornings when Steve drives to school with Bucky are some of his favorite. They sing, off key, to whatever music is playing while Bucky drums his fingers against the steering wheel. Every now and then their eyes meet and they share a smile or a laugh. The music Bucky keeps in his car is an odd mix: indie pop, 80s rock, the best of Disney. Steve knows that in the back of the glove compartment is a CD of instrumental music for the times when Bucky just wants to drive around and just think.

"Sharon thinks you should try harder for people to vote for you," Steve says in a pause between songs. "For the Homecoming."

Bucky stops at a red light. He pulls a face. "Is it wrong I don't really care? I mean, it's not like I'm not proud. It's great, the nomination, don't get me wrong." He almost misses the traffic lights changing colors and curses quietly. "Even if I only play ball, it's not like I do anything. But I'm not going to the Homecoming to do some sort of politics, you know? I just want to have fun with my friends." 

"And dance with that girl you want to ask?"

Bucky groans but then takes his hand off the wheel for long enough to brush his knuckles against Steve's arm in a hint of a punch. "Yeah, that too." 

"Think you'd have better chances if you were Homecoming Prince?" 

"For someone not wanting to go, you sure are investing a lot of thought into it."

///*///*///*///

This time, Steve comes looking for a new message. He isn't in it for the secret admirer, if he has one, but he is curious what he'll find this time. In the morning, his locker is empty, but that is no longer true when he leaves Chemistry.

"Stop it," he tells Clint, who is trying to see over his shoulder. He glares at Sam, too, just for a good measure. Even though Sam is standing by his own locker looking completely innocent. Except for the fact that from his locker, he can see Steve's perfectly. 

"Open it!" Clint urges, practically bouncing on the heels of his feet. Steve pushes him away. Despite being a few inches taller and a lot more muscular, Clint stumbles away. He bounces back all too soon again.

"How do you even know there's going to be something inside?" Steve asks. He is procrastinating. 

Clint shrugs. "No one's going to give up on you so fast," he says.

Steve rolls his eyes but finally opens the locker. There is another envelope, identical to the two he found before. He picks it up and tries to ignore Clint's chin on his shoulder when he opens it. Inside is a thin cardboard card with a piece of fabric glued neatly to it and framed with red and gold washi tape. In the center there is a cross-stitched red flower on a long stem. The card itself shows signs of DIY beginner, but the cross-stitching is done beautifully. 

Steve looks at Clint, who shrugs, and then shoves the picture under Sam's nose. Sam's the most nature-oriented person he knows, after all. 

Sam gives him a helpless look. "I keep parrots. I don't know shit about flowers."

They're interrupted by a football flying by and Bucky practically gliding between them to catch it. He is with a group of his teammates, all in the school colors lettermans. Tossing the football between his hands, he walks up to Steve's side. It only takes one glance at the card in Steve's hand for him to say: "Amaryllis." When they all give him questioning looks, he shrugs. "Mum loves them."

"Barnes, stop stalling!" Thor, the football captain, yells in his booming yet cheerful voice. Bucky grins and tosses the football to him before patting Steve's shoulders and joining his teammates in their impromptu game again.

///*///*///*///

A quick search tells Steve that amaryllis is a symbol of pride and radiant beauty. After five minutes of studying his face in a restroom mirror, he comes to the conclusion that those qualities are more likely to belong to the sender than him.

Later, looking at the collection of the mysterious messages, he catches himself wondering about the person who left them for him. 

In his life, he has only met two people who showed some interest in him beyond friendship. One was Sam, who gave him his first kiss when they were fourteen. They stumbled through two weeks of trying to figure out how dating worked before Sam admitted, embarrassed and apologetic, that he really didn't like boys that way. He thought he did, and if he did Steve would be it, but he didn't. It was more embarrassing than painful and they quickly settled into a friendship afterwards. The other person was Sharon's cousin Peggy, who came from England for the Christmas Break last year. Steve and Peggy talked for hours at Sharon's New Year Eve's party which led to Steve's first ever New Year's kiss. He was infatuated. But Peggy returned to England and, anyway, she was older and would be starting college soon. The last thing she needed was a long distance high school boyfriend, especially one she's only met for a few hours. 

He can't think of anyone beside that who would want him. 

He decides to keep closer eye on Loki, Thor Odinson's step-brother and infamous prankster.

///*///*///*///

To get his mind of things, he starts designing a flyer for Bucky's non-existent campaign. He does that sitting on the bleachers while Bucky is practicing with the rest of the team. Steve draws him to the left side of the picture, a portrait of Bucky's grinning face. He wants to show Bucky's friendliness and sense of humor and he feels like he's doing a good job. Even without looking at the other boy's face, the face in his sketchbook looks true to life. Steve had drawn him so many times before that Bucky's features appear on the page without much struggle. To the background, he adds a few nondescript football players in the middle of a game. Then changes his concept and turns half of the background into a dance hall peopled with smartly dressed boys and girls. The two images blend into each other seamlessly and Bucky fits perfectly in both.

This, however, makes him think about Bucky and his mysterious crush. Steve's gaze travels to the group of cheerleaders who are rehearsing at one end of the field. Then he turns to the group of girls sitting on the bleachers a few feet away from him, talking and watching the practice. Some of them have boyfriends on the team, but not all of them. Surely a good number of them would be pleased to have Bucky ask them to the Homecoming Dance. 

The thing is, a selfish part of Steve doesn't want Bucky to ask anyone. While Bucky isn't the type to abandon his friends for someone he's dating, a greedy part of Steve that he'd love to not acknowledge still wants him to himself. That part of Steve that wishes Bucky could see him the way Steve sees Bucky. 

Yet he wishes Bucky to be happy. With whomever, just as long as he is satisfied. 

That's not something Steve can give him, but he can wish it for him.


	5. Chapter 5

**sharpshooter:** do u want 2 no who it is  
 **sharpshooter:** ur secret admirer

**grantrogers:** You know who's behind it?

**sharpshooter:** could probs find out

**grantrogers:** It's probably a prank anyway

**buckbuckbarnes:** Why is it so difficult to believe someone's into you?

**grantrogers:** Your username sucks

**buckbuckbarnes:** Blame Natasha.  
 **buckbuckbarnes:** And you're one to talk.  
 **buckbuckbarnes:** And I asked a question. 

**illegallyawesome:** Нeблагодарный малъчишка

**grantrogers:** No one ever likes me, buck. it's just the way it is

**bird_of_prey:** Behold my newfound power of invisibility!

**grantrogers:** Sorry, sam  
 **grantrogers:** Just. you know

**illegallyawesome:** He did turn you off boys forever…. 

**bird_of_prey:** That's not how it went.

**buckbuckbarnes:** Sam has a point. 

**grantrogers:** Do we have to have this conversation? it's just that i'm me. what's there for people to find attractive?  
 **grantrogers:** Mum's home. i've to go

///*///*///*///

The truth is, Steve isn't rich. He can afford education thanks to a full art scholarship, but between his mother's low income – too low for how much she works – and his medical bills, the money is tight. He struggles to keep even the odd part-time jobs, but he takes commissions for his art. Even those, however, he ends up giving out for free more often than not. An awareness campaign ran by a local women's shelter. Flyers for a therapy dog training program. Christmas cards for the children's hospital.

It's one of the training center flyers that he finds folded in an envelope in his locker when he comes to get his textbook after the second period on Friday. At first, he doesn't understand at all, but when he looks closer, he notices highlighted words. His secret admirer used a blue and green highlighter that compliments the flyer's color scheme. It takes him another moment to understand the scrambled message, though it becomes clear once he realizes that the two colors represent two different sentences.

The marked words form a message: "You make difference. You bring happiness to my world." Only "my" is improvised, each letter highlighted separately.

///*///*///*///

**agent13:** The themes for costume week are up.  
 **agent13:** Natasha, can I borrow your Wonder Woman costume? :)

 **sharpshooter:** y do i need to go 2 notice board when u can just send it 2 us?

**illegallyawesome:** I'm with Clint.  
 **illegallyawesome:** And idk, what're the themes? I might need it.

**bird_of_prey:** Natasha: we know you are ;) 

**illegallyawesome:** Shush, you know what I mean. 

_agent13 shared a file. costumethemeshc14.doc_  


Monday: Childhood  
Tuesday: My Hero  
Wednesday: 1970s  
Thursday: Pajama day  
Friday: HOMECOMING 

**buckbuckbarnes:** 70s? Seriously?

 **bird_of_prey:** You failed us, Sharon Carter.

**agent13:** I know. I tried.  
   
 **bird_of_prey:** Who needs me to write them a doctor's note for Wednesday?  
 **grantrogers:** And thursday  
 **grantrogers:** Group costume for monday?

**sharpshooter:** scoobydoo

**buckbuckbarnes:** I'll be the dog.

///*///*///*///

**buckbuckbarnes:** Steve?

 **grantrogers:** Aren't you in class?

**buckbuckbarnes:** Double period Beginner's Photography.  
 **buckbuckbarnes:** Kill me now.  
 **buckbuckbarnes:** Why do I need an Art credit?

**grantrogers:** It can't be that bad

**buckbuckbarnes:** It iiis. Save me, Steve.

**grantrogers:** How?

**buckbuckbarnes:** Tell me something interesting. Like, did you get any more secret love notes?

**grantrogers:** I don't think they qualify for notes. and maybe

**buckbuckbarnes:** Amaryllis symbolizes "qualities beyond beauty". Did you know that?

**grantrogers:** Where do you have that from?

**buckbuckbarnes:** Google.

**grantrogers:** Not what my search told me

**buckbuckbarnes:** Different search parameters?  
 **buckbuckbarnes:** I'm thinking about asking that person to the dance via note.  
 **buckbuckbarnes:** Is it working on you?

**grantrogers:** idk  
 **grantrogers:** Wouldn't it be better to ask properly?

**buckbuckbarnes:** Do you want them to stop?  
 **buckbuckbarnes:** And everyone does that.

**grantrogers:** I'm not sure. i'm a little curious what they're up to?  
 **grantrogers:** Because it works.  
 **grantrogers:** Are you scared, James Barnes?

**buckbuckbarnes:** No.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Нeблагодарный малъчишка – neblagodarnyy mal'chishka – ungrateful brat
> 
> I think it's obvious from the text but just in case:  
>  **grantrogers** \- Steve  
>  **buckbuckbarnes** \- Bucky  
>  **illegallyawesome** \- Natasha  
>  **sharpshooter** \- Clint  
>  **bird_of_prey** \- Sam  
>  **agent13** \- Sharon


End file.
